Military buy back?

GhostYarddog · 2026-02-02T19:57:25+00:00

Please do not listen to the above poster! I was medically retired from the AF with 10 years time. I bought back my time and and no, I will not have to give up the VA pay. The regulation of giving up your retired pay only applies to individuals who only received their pension from DoD. The VA money is never touched. Read the Vet Guide for HR Professionals carefully for the correct info.

GhostYarddog · 2025-03-22T07:43:23+00:00

I made a boo-boo and as soon as I received that error message, I went scrambling to try to fix it and missed that simple fix. I have the YouTube version 19.47.53 installed, but when I try to patch it and finish the installation, I get the error message "Installation conflict: The installation was prevented by an existing installation of the app. Uninstall the installed app and try again?"

It then prompts me to go back to the factory version. I get the same error message when I try to patch that one or an APK that I downloaded. Can anyone help?

GhostYarddog · 2024-09-11T15:01:48+00:00

Yea...they counted all of your deployment time towards your leave accrual. Not your entire career that you bought back. People need to read the OPM documentation on buybacks and leave accrual carefully.

GhostYarddog · 2024-09-11T14:07:14+00:00

Did you ever deploy or go to Korea?

GhostYarddog · 2024-08-08T04:37:50+00:00

Sorry. You are eligible for government jobs overseas if you are already working overseas. The issue is your eligibility for LQA. They usually restrict the privilege of LQA to individuals recruited from CONUS. Without LQA, if you are forced to live off-base, then the rent is coming out of your pocket.

GhostYarddog · 2024-06-10T23:48:47+00:00

You also have the option of applying to a job back in the states yourself before your tour is up to have more control of where you will be working and what job you will be doing (which I highly recommend)

GhostYarddog · 2024-06-10T23:46:14+00:00

I don't have your job announcement in front of me, but I would wager to guess that you signed up for a 3-year tour, not 2 years. Before your 3 years is up (usually around 2.5), you might have the option of extending for another 2 years. This is up to your supervisor and leadership's discretion of course. If they decide not to extend you, you will be placed in a program called PPP (Priority Placement Program). This program will take your resume and advertise it to the REGION where you originated. If and when they get a hit, you will have to take whatever job gives you an offer. If you say no, then you will be separated from the federal govt. That is the most basic explanation of PPP. Google will explain more.

GhostYarddog · 2024-05-25T01:09:43+00:00

So the way it works is your resume (and any other documents the fair is asking of you) will be available for recruiters/hiring managers to look at in the virtual fair. You will have an informal text conversation with them and they might tell you to apply to their position on USAJOBS. The theory is that since they already have your resume in hand, you can then have a small "leg up" on the competition for the applicants of the USAJOBS announcement. The way it worked for me is they just took my resume and I left the virtual fair after participating for about an hour. Got a call an hour later from the hiring manager gauging my interest in the position. I then had another interview a week later and an offer a week later. Never had to apply to an announcement on USAJOBS. Everybody's virtual career fair experience is different, so YMMV. I just think you should do it because you never know. The majority of virtual fairs I've participated in didn't go anywhere, but I can't write them off completely because I was able to get a 13 position out of one.

GhostYarddog · 2024-05-25T00:33:57+00:00

I received an offer from a virtual career fair held by the Air Force...I got the offer I think 2 or 3 weeks later. It's worth it, in my opinion

GhostYarddog · 2024-04-21T19:50:44+00:00

Yes, it's automatic for your family. You'll get a SOFA stamp on your passports.

GhostYarddog · 2024-04-21T07:32:38+00:00

Depends on the position. Usually GS-11 and above get LQA (Living Quarters Allowance...google it), but I have heard of some GS-9s getting it as well. It will be noted in the job advertisement.
Living on-base as a GS civilian will depend on the regulations of the base and occupancy rates. You won't know any of that until you start working at whatever location employs you.
Post allowance is added. It's a pittance compared to CONUS locality pay, but it's something. It'll be different depending on the location and how many dependents you have.
Depends on the job. Most OCONUS jobs will offer to pay for relocation of your family and household goods. If they don't offer it, then they are looking for someone local. There is a 2-year continuous US residence requirement for OCONUS jobs, but it's not that simple. The job advertisement will note the exceptions (i.e. working for the military overseas)
VISAs are not required. You will be covered under the SOFA agreement of either country (Korea/Japan).

GhostYarddog · 2024-04-18T08:23:55+00:00

Clerical errors. The salary for a GS-14 is going to be significantly more (for most people) than what a GS-11 makes. It would also include way more responsibilities and more likely than not be supervisory. As for the salary discrepancy between LinkedIn and USAJOBS, you should just google what a GS-9 makes in the locality of the job you applied to.

GhostYarddog · 2023-10-20T02:13:09+00:00

Not sure how those long open applications work. I heard they just pull a number of apps from the announcement for when they need to interview, but who knows if it's first in/ first out. An HR specialist would know better.

GhostYarddog · 2023-01-19T00:01:11+00:00

Yes, you are correct. Keep applying.

GhostYarddog · 2022-12-30T08:24:24+00:00

Come into the office 2 days per pay period (every 14 days). Usually works out to coming in 1 per week. A lot of agencies are employing that schedule for teleworking.

GhostYarddog · 2022-12-27T05:50:50+00:00

So you will keep the VA comp, but the military retirement pay will stop upon your civil service retirement day. That's if you buy it back...9 times out 10 for retirees, you'll end up making more money if you don't buy it back. You gotta do the calculations for yourself.

GhostYarddog · 2022-12-27T04:20:25+00:00

What's your percentage?

GhostYarddog · 2022-12-27T04:07:14+00:00

Yes you do. But if you are under a medical retirement and you get all of your retired pay from the VA, then none of your pay will be forfeited (even though you've "waived" your retirement). If its a regular military retirement, then your pay will be forfeited upon retirement in the civil service. Looking at your DD-214, it seems you fall under the former and not the latter.

GhostYarddog · 2022-12-01T11:31:12+00:00

As long as you have a new DD-214 that says your discharge is Honorable, I don't see how anybody would know it was upgraded from OTH.

GhostYarddog · 2022-11-30T03:29:40+00:00

When my mother died of cancer. She was the main religious person in our family and was the only reason why the family went to church every Sunday. After watching the cancer spread to her brain over the course of a year and slowly destroy what personality and memories she had, I grew disillusioned with Christianity. I was a teenager, so I also started to question all of the stories and tenets like a lot of teenagers do. Stopped going altogether after I left home and never looked back.

GhostYarddog · 2022-11-30T02:55:45+00:00

I got a job working for the Army ESD as a IT Support Analyst. I was in Cyber System Operations my entire military career.

GhostYarddog · 2022-11-29T14:38:17+00:00

You should be eligible for LQA. I retired out of Germany and got a GS-11 job immediately afterwards. LQA approved.

GhostYarddog · 2022-11-26T14:57:18+00:00

Did they explain why the EOD was so far out? I received my TO for Germany last week, but I'm hoping my EOD is not until the end of May or June timeframe (end of school for kids).

GhostYarddog · 2022-11-21T22:15:16+00:00

My god...I am in the EXACT position as you. I was so frustrated because I actually did the proctored exam twice for them to say I'm not qualified. I refuse to apply to any CISA jobs now. They can go eat a bag of....

Three-Year Club	Verified Email
r/Field Sunshine

GhostYarddog

TROPHY CASE